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Stacy Westfall is not a deaf/mute! Anyone else seen this yet?

I've seen a video of Stacy Westfall's 2006 Reining Freestyle championship ride (the one she dedicated to her father who had just passed away) on no fewer than five Facebook walls.

It seems to be going viral again (six years later) but unfortunately the information attached is outlandish at best.
It claims she is a deaf/mute and that she only trained the horse for three weeks prior to the competition. Is this making anyone else nuts?

Here's the hogwash accompanying the video:A deaf-mute girl on a horse that she has ridden for only THREE weeks!!, not to mention the song she picked out to dedicate to her deceased father! Listen to the announcer's voice crack! The horse she is riding is not even hers; she is training it for a client and has had it only 20 days at the time of the ride shown here. Note that she rides without a saddle or halter and bit and (obviously) without voice commands. She is using the method used by North American Indians. When you think your voice can't be heard I want each of you to watch this Video. She has no voice. She cannot hear. Yet she has persevered and achieved! Thought you all would enjoy this

Here's the link to the ride. Not sure why people feel the need to cheapen a story that is already beautiful on its own.

I put it down to the same sort of mind set that forwards the same emails ( they walk among us, facepalm) that have been going around for AGES! It is a beautiful video, and the FB page I last saw it had been corrected by a number of horse folks who know better.

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I saw it a few times on FB this week actually. Posted by non-horsey people. I did (gently) correct that detail and gave them a link to her wiki page.

The upside is that even non-horsey people can really appreciate her talent. I think it's great that folks are being exposed to something like that! But like so many other posts, I do wish that more people would take advantage of a quick snopes check or something before sharing. That said, I can understand why someone wouldn't necessarily question it. <shrugs>

A good horseman doesn't have to tell anyone...the horse already knows.

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I have seen that several times in the past few days as well. At first I thought they meant the horse was deaf and mute since I knew Stacy wasn't but then I was like "how would you know a horse was mute?!"

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Facebook is the bastion of stupidity on stuff like that.
"World's last rare black lion!" (photoshopped to be black)
"Scary photo of Hurricane/Storm _____" posted for every weather event ever...same photo, none correct.

And my least faves that people share all the time "Like this and ____ will donate ____ for ____" Nope, none of the companies donate for "likes"...you've been fooled again.

You jump in the saddle,
Hold onto the bridle!
Jump in the line!
...Belefonte

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Someone sent that to me in an email about a month ago. Love the video, have seen it many, many times. Too bad the info is incorrect, although I guess it would make her seem extraordinarily talented (I already think that, so I'm not trying to take anything away from her) to the non-horsey world. We all I think know better.

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And my least faves that people share all the time "Like this and ____ will donate ____ for ____" Nope, none of the companies donate for "likes"...you've been fooled again.

Actually if you go to Saddlers Row page on FB...they ARE donating $1 for every new like on their fan page before the end of the year to buy winter hay for therapy horses. They've raised over $2000 already. Granted it's a small company & not the big ones you know are usually scams, but I thought I would put in a plug for them here.

I saw the FB about Stacy & all her "issues". It's already an amazing ride, it doesn't need all the extras to sensationalize it.

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I saw it a few times on FB this week actually. Posted by non-horsey people. I did (gently) correct that detail and gave them a link to her wiki page....

Same here.

There's also a pic making the rounds - the years-old giant table and chairs with the horses underneath claiming the person built it because he was denied a permit to build a horse shelter. Not true. That table and chairs is at some foreign park (can't remember the name or location) featuring "super-sized" creations.

Equus Keepus Brokus

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I'm not on Facebook and my husband regularly reminds me why by showing me stuff that people he knows post...argh! I'm convinced that 90% of what is on Facebook isn't true at all or is generously embellished. I'm still not sure what the point of it is....it's more fun to go sit in a bar if I want to hear people tell lies and make up outlandish and dramatic stories, at least then I've got a drink in my hand .